JP2011110404A - Electric wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive and light electric wheelchair. <P>SOLUTION: The electric wheelchair has as a basic structure, a structure of a manual wheelchair and employs a tire having a built-in hub motor instead of any of right or left front caster. The electric wheelchair is configured to have a tire support device turnably supporting the tire and a steering device fixed to the tire support device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric wheelchair.

  Self-operating wheelchairs and assisting wheelchairs or electric wheelchairs are widely used as devices for moving people with disabilities in the lower limbs.

  Both self-operated wheelchairs and assisting wheelchairs are driven by human power, so in situations such as steps and uphills, the burden on the body is large and it is not easy to drive. In addition, depending on the state of the occupant's body, running by himself may be difficult.

  Electric wheelchairs are used as a means to solve the above problems, but because the vehicle body has been newly designed on the assumption that additional drive devices will be installed and further equipped with drive devices, self-operating It is significantly more expensive than wheelchairs and assistive wheelchairs.

  Further, since the number of driving devices increases, there are many cases where the weight is remarkably increased as compared with a human-powered wheelchair. For this reason, when an operation for lifting an electric wheelchair such as getting on and off a passenger car is required, there is often a great difficulty.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an inexpensive and lightweight electric wheelchair.

  In the electric wheelchair according to the present invention, a wheel support wheelchair is used as a basic structure, and either a left or right front wheel caster is replaced with a tire that includes a hub motor, and the tire support device that rotatably holds the tire and the tire support device The problem was solved by adopting a shape having a steering device fixed to the vehicle.

  The electric wheelchair according to the present invention has a simple structure in which a front wheel caster on one side is used as a driving wheel based on a frame structure of a general human-powered wheelchair, and a steering device is added to the driving wheel. Manufacturing is possible.

  Further, in the electric wheelchair of the present invention, the battery and the control device can be attached to the steering shaft, so that it is very compact and lightweight.

  Moreover, since this apparatus is compactly equipped in the front wheel caster part on one side as described above, it is possible to maintain a good occupant entrance / exit without blocking the front of the seat. Furthermore, the drive device of this structure can be attached to a folding wheelchair.

  If the electric wheelchair drive structure according to the present invention is used, the front wheel caster on either the left or right side of the human-powered wheelchair that is already used is removed, and then the bearing pipe to which the front wheel caster is attached is used. The drive structure of the electric wheelchair can be easily mounted and can be modified to an electric wheelchair.

1 is an overall view showing an electric wheelchair according to the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the attachment part of the flame | frame and steering shaft of the electric wheelchair in this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the battery part of the electric wheelchair in this invention, and the attaching part state to the steering shaft of a control apparatus. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the front-wheel part and attachment part of the electric wheelchair in this invention.

  Either the left or right front wheel caster is a tire with an internal hub motor, and the tire support device that holds the tire and the steering device, battery, and control device fixed to the tire support device are integrated. An electric wheelchair having a structure having the device was adopted.

  The frame of the electric wheelchair according to the present invention has a structure similar to that of a so-called human-powered wheelchair, and is placed in a bearing pipe 2 welded and fixed perpendicularly to a vehicle body frame 1 to which a right caster is originally attached. A hollow spacer 3 is inserted. The length of the spacer 3 is set slightly shorter than the length of the bearing pipe 2.

  In addition, the outer diameter of the spacer 3 is preferably set to a size that can be press-fitted into the inner diameter portion of the bearing pipe 2 in order to prevent the spacer 3 from rattling in the bearing pipe 2.

  The bearing pipe 2 is sandwiched from above and below by mounting plates 5a and 5b fixed to the steering bearing 4 by welding. The interval between the mounting plates 5a and 5b is set to be approximately the same as the length of the bearing pipe 2.

  The mounting plates 5a and 5b and the spacer 3 are provided with holes so that bolts 6 can be inserted. The upper and lower mounting plates 5a, 5b and the bolt 6 penetrating the spacer 3 with the washer 7a interposed therebetween are fastened by the nut 8 with the washer 7b interposed therebetween. As a result, the steering bearing 4 is arranged in parallel to the side of the bearing pipe 2.

  Headsets 9 a and 9 b are mounted on the steering bearing 4 in the vertical direction, and a steering shaft 10 is rotatably disposed inside the steering bearing 4. A handlebar clamp 11 is disposed above the steering shaft 10 and supports the handlebar 12 horizontally. The handle bar 12 is equipped with an on / off switch 13 for switching between running and stopping.

  The lower portion of the steering shaft 10 is fixed to the tire support 14 by welding, and the tire support 14 supports the rotating shaft 16 of the tire 15 with a hub motor.

  The handle bar 12 is fixed at a position perpendicular to the rotation direction of the tire 15 with the hub motor.

  A battery 18 is attached to the steering bearing 4 at an arbitrary position in the middle portion via a battery attachment stay 17, and a control device 19 is attached to the lower part of the battery 18. Electric power is supplied from the battery 18 to the tire 15 with the hub motor via the control device 19 by wiring. Further, the control device 19 and the on / off switch 13 are connected to each other to control running and stopping.

  The battery 18 is provided with a power switch 20, and the power switch 20 is turned on during electric traveling. Further, when the power switch 20 is turned off, the tire 15 with the hub motor is in a freely rotatable state. Since the tire 15 with the hub motor is supported by being offset from the steering shaft 10 by the tire support portion 14, it operates as a normal caster. Therefore, when the power switch 20 is turned off, a normal human-powered wheelchair is not uncomfortable. Can be driven by human power.

  The present invention solves the problem by adopting the above-described configuration.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Body frame 2 Bearing pipe 3 Spacer 4 Steering bearing 5 Mounting plate 6 Bolt 7 Washer 8 Nut 9 Headset 10 Steering shaft 11 Handlebar clamp 12 Handlebar 13 On-off switch 14 Tire support 15 Tire 16 with hub motor 16 Rotating shaft 17 Battery Mounting stay 18 Battery 19 Control device 20 Power switch

Claims (4)

  An electric wheelchair having a structure in which either a left or right front wheel caster includes a hub motor, and includes a tire support device that holds the tire, a steering device, a battery, and a control device fixed to the tire support device.   The electric wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein a caster mounted on a side opposite to a tire in which the hub motor is mounted is provided with a shock absorber.   2. The electric wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the tire in which the hub motor is installed is attached by being offset from the steering shaft by a tire support device.   An electric wheelchair obtained by retrofitting a front wheel drive device for an electric wheelchair according to claim 1 to an existing human-powered wheelchair.

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